Saint Albans

Saint Albans (sŭnt ôlˈbənz) [key], city and district (1991 pop. 76,709), Hertfordshire, E central England. The market city of Saint Albans has printing, engineering, and clothing industries. Many of its residents work in London. The city is the site of the Roman Verulamium, which was sacked during Boadicea's revolt. King Offa of Mercia founded an abbey there in 793 to house the relics of Saint Alban, an early British martyr. The abbey and attached school (replaced by St. Alban's School in the 16th cent.) were made famous by Mathew of Paris and other chroniclers. The cathedral was built mostly in the 11th cent. under Paul of Caen, the first Norman abbot. Extensions and alterations were made in the 13th, 14th, and 19th cent. Part of nearby St. Michael's Church, which contains a memorial to Sir Francis Bacon, dates from the 10th cent. In the Wars of the Roses, St. Albans was the scene of a Yorkist victory in 1455 and a Lancastrian victory in 1461. Sarah Jennings Churchill, 1st duchess of Marlborough, was born in nearby Holywell House.